Effects of lysyl oxidase genetic variants on the susceptibility to rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), the most common cause of failure of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) surgery, is an anomalous scarring process related to ocular inflammation. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a copper-dependent amine oxidase that may play important roles in ocular tissue integrity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms in the LOX gene were associated with susceptibility to RD and PVR. We screened the promoter region of LOX gene and tested two previously reported polymorphisms (-22 G/C and 473 G/A) in RD patients with or without PVR and healthy controls. Data showed that prevalence of the -22CC genotype and -22C allele were significantly higher in the RD cases than in the control group after adjustment for sex and age (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Similarly, a significant difference was observed regarding LOX 473GA genotype and 473A allele between RD patients and healthy donors after adjustment for sex and age (p = 0.005 and p = 0.012, respectively). Also, when compared to RD cases without PVR, patients who developed PVR had significantly higher numbers of -22CC genotype and -22C allele (p = 0.048 and p = 0.003, respectively). These results indicated that LOX polymorphisms were associated with increased susceptibility to RD and PVR and suggest a potential correlation between LOX and ocular inflammation.